YELLOW-BILLED AMERICAN CUCKOO. 



the amount of two broods in a season, this circumstance 

 would connect the two species in a still more intimate 

 manner than theoretical writers have supposed them to be 

 allied. Having mentioned these circumstances to my friend, 

 Dr. T. M. Brewer, and requested him to pay particular at- 

 tention to these birds while breeding, he has sent me the 

 following note : ' The fact you intimated to me last July 

 I have myself observed. The female evidently commences 

 incubation immediately after laying her first egg. Thus I 

 have found in the nest of both species of our Cuckoos* 

 one egg quite fresh, while in another the chick will be just 

 bursting the shell ; and again, I have found an egg just 

 about to be hatched while others are already so, and some 

 of the young even about to fly. These species are not un- 

 common in Massachusetts, where both breed, and both are 

 much more numerous some years than others.'" Mr. Au- 

 dubon adds, " I found the Yellow-billed Cuckoo plentiful 

 and breeding in the Texas ; and it is met with, on the other 

 hand, in Nova Scotia, and even in Labrador, where I saw 

 a few. It has been observed on the Columbia River by 

 Dr. Townsend. No mention is made of it in the Fauna 

 Boreali-Americana. Many spend the winter in the most 

 southern portions of the Floridas." Pennant, in his Arctic 

 Zoology, says of this bird, "It arrives in New York in 

 May, makes its nest in June, and retires from North Ame- 

 rica in autumn." 



The appearance of four examples of an American species 

 in this country has caused some speculation. As far as I 

 have been able to ascertain, these birds were obtained late 

 in the month of August or early in the month of Septem- 

 ber. M. Temminck, unwilling to consider them as migra- 

 tions from North America to Europe, thinks it probable 

 the bird may yet be found in the north of Europe. 

 * The other is the Black-billed American Cuckoo. 



